40th Anniversary: Masonic Symbols in Decorative Arts

Forty years ago, the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library published the book Masonic­­ Symbols in American Decorative Arts to accompany an exhibition on the topic. The book, written in 1976 by former museum curator Barbara Franco, highlighted and contextualized 146 American decorative arts objects with Masonic symbols. Decorative arts, often defined as the design and decoration of functional objects, include glassware, furniture, ceramics, textiles, basketry, and clocks. Artist's and craftsmen commonly incorporated Masonic symbols into their designs in the 1700s and 1800s; a period of rapid growth for American Masonic and fraternal organizations.

The Museum has acquired more Masonic decorative arts objects since 1976. Many of the artifacts featured in Franco's publication have been re-photographed and continue to be a part of our exhibitions. Two of these items are highlighted below and have recently been exhibited at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library.

This pocket watch is featured in our current exhibition “Keeping Time: Clockmakers and Collectors" open through 2017. The watch, designed and manufactured by the Dudley and Hamilton Watch Companies, was made in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, around 1925. William Wallace Dudley's (1851–1938) company produced distinctive watches with movement parts shaped like Masonic symbols. This particular watch includes a trowel, square and compasses, level, bible, and shoe.

This Worshipful Master’s Chair made around 1870 and marked by maker John Luker (b. 1838) was featured in the exhibition "‘Every Variety of Paintings for Lodges’: Decorated Furniture, Paintings and Ritual Objects from the Collection." You can find out more about the chair in this 2008 blog post.The chair is also currently included in the online exhibition of the same name, available here.

Find these objects and more in our new decorative arts album on Flickr! Like, share, and comment on objects you find on our Flickr page.

 

 

 

 

Captions:

Pocket Watch, ca. 1925, Dudley Watch Co. and Hamilton Watch Company, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Gift of Hazel D. Hubley in memory of Bert H. Hubley, 86.32a-b. Photograph by David Bohl.

Masonic Worshipful Master's Chair, ca. 1870, John Luker, Vinton County, Ohio, Gift of the Estate of Charles V. Hagler, 85.20.1.1. Photograph by David Bohl.

Reference:

Barbara Franco, Masonic Symbols in American Decorative Arts, Lexington, Massachusetts: Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Inc., 1976.

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Decorated Chests in "Every Variety of Painting for Lodges"

Chest, 1800-1820. New England. Museum Purchase, 96.009. Photograph by David Bohl.

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, many Masonic lodges met in shared spaces. They might have, like many city lodges, shared a lodge room with Masonic groups, or met in a rented room or tavern. To keep lodge property safe and organized, some lodges owned lockable chests. Two chests ornamented with Masonic symbols are currently on view in “’Every Variety of Paintings for Lodges:’ Decorated Furniture, Paintings and Ritual Objects from the Collection” at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library.

Lodge histories and records hint at how members used chests and trunks in the early decades of the 1800s. For example, in 1806 the Closet Steward at St. Andrew’s Royal Arch Chapter in Boston noted in his report that the chapter owned a trunk that held officers’ jewels as well as “a silver Chisel & Mallet” and other small objects used during ritual. In 1813 Morning Star Lodge of Worcester, first chartered in 1793, noted “Two chests for furniture” on an extensive inventory of property. In 1821 Thomas Royal Arch Chapter in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, paid furniture maker John G. Davis $3.50 for a “chest” along with $4.75 for “Painting, ornamenting the desks, alter, etc.” Record keepers at Union Lodge in Dorchester, which met in a rented space, noted a chest in their early property inventories. By 1818, as the amount of property owned by the lodge grew, their stock of chests expanded to three.

Chest, ca. 1820. New England. Special Acquisitions Fund, 75.28. Photograph by David Bohl.

Chests likely varied in size and finish from lodge to lodge.  A craftsman decorated the pine chest illustrated at the right, with red paint and stenciled Masonic designs. Stenciled ornaments enjoyed a vogue as decoration on walls, furniture and textiles in the first few decades of the 1800s. The craftsman who stenciled this chest marked it as the property of a Royal Arch chapter with multiple arches on the front and sides.

A Royal Arch chapter likely owned the painted chest pictured at the top of the page and used it to secure their valuables. In the 1700s and 1800s, many families also kept portable valuables in locked containers to guard against loss and theft.This chest may have first been utilized in a home and then later adapted—and decorated—to reflect its use by a Masonic group.  

If you are interested in seeing more of the intriguing decorative arts Freemasons commissioned for their lodges, be sure to visit “’Every Variety of Paintings for Lodges:’ Decorated Furniture, Paintings and Ritual Objects from the Collection.”

References:

Alfred F. Chapman, St. Andrew’s Royal Arch Chapter of Boston, Massachusetts (Boston, Massachusetts:  W. F. Brown & Company,1883).

Frederick A. Currier, Centennial Memorial of Thomas Royal Arch Chapter Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 1821-1921 (Fitchburg: The Chapter, 1923).

John D. Hamilton, Material Culture of the American Freemasons (Lexington, Massachusetts:  Museum of Our National Heritage, 1994).

Edward S. Nason, A Centennial History of Morning Star Lodge (Worcester, Massachusetts:  The Lodge, 1894).

Union Lodge Records, Minutes 1796-1826.  Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Gift of Union Lodge, A2008/16.

Tracing Board from Union Lodge, Dorchester: Now on View

Tracing Board, ca. 1796. Boston, Massachusetts. Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library, Gift of Union Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Dorchester, Massachusetts, 75.46.17. Photo by David Bohl.

In the 1700s and 1800s, members of Masonic lodges used cloths painted with symbols to instruct new brothers in the meaning of Masonic emblems. These paintings were, in the 1700s, most likely, rolled out on the floor.  Later, lodges had tracing boards mounted so that they could be displayed on a wall.  Union Lodge of Dorchester, Massachusetts, owned this tracing board of symbols painted on linen.  It may have started life as a floor cloth but was subsequently mounted on a panel so it could be hung on the lodge room wall.  This tracing board is currently on view in “’Every Variety of Paintings for Lodges’:  Decorated Furniture, Paintings and Ritual Objects from the Collection” at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library.

Over the years, the diligent secretaries and stewards of Union Lodge noted the lodge’s tracing boards in their periodic records of lodge property.  The first, “An Inventory of Utencils, & furniture belonging to the Union Lodge,” was recorded in December 1796, just months after members had submitted their petition to form a lodge to the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts.  Among the many intriguing items on the list, the lodge stewards noted a “Flooring Compleat,” a term that likely indicated a tracing board.  During the 1700s and 1800s, American Masons employed many descriptions for what are now called tracing boards or master’s carpets—including tracing boards, floor cloths and charts.  From 1796 through 1826, Union Lodge officers referred to their tracing boards as “flooring compleat,” “apprentice flooring” or Master’s flooring” in their inventories. 

Interestingly, in spite of the rich surviving records from Union Lodge, it is difficult to pin down which of the lodge’s tracing boards this one may have been, or when it was made.  Is this object the original “flooring compleat” first inventoried in 1796?  Or was it, perhaps, a tracing board purchased in late 1799 or 1800 after the lodge voted to choose a committee to “dispose of the flooring of the Lodge & to procure another its room--”? It could have also been the “Entered apprentice flouring” loaned to Rising Star Lodge of Stoughton, Massachusetts, in 1812.  By 1814 Union Lodge officers added a “Master’s flooring” to their holdings.  Four years later the lodge asked a committee, “to procure a Masters Flooring…,” suggesting their older one had been damaged or failed to suit. By 1818, the lodge inventory includeded an “Apprentice flooring, Masters D[itt]o,” and a “Drafting Board,” showing that the group’s stock of teaching aids had grown.  Even with these clues, we will need to undertake further research to help us better understand if this tracing board was one of the several tracing boards recorded in Union Lodge inventories and when it was painted.  In the meantime, be sure to visit the Museum to see the tracing board on exhibit along with other tracing boards, painted furniture and Masonic aprons.     

References:

John D. Hamilton, Material Culture of the American Freemasons (Lexington, Massachusetts:  Museum of Our National Heritage) 1994, 35, 36, 39-42.

William D. Moore, “American Masonic Ritual Paintings,” Folk Art 24 (Winter 1999/2000), 59-65.

Union Lodge Records, Minutes 1796-1826.  Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Gift of Union Lodge, A2008/16.

 

Drawing a Fraternal Identity

While “Masonic” is in our name and we often focus on American Masonic history, the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library also actively collects, studies and presents fraternal history – stories, objects and people associated with the history of non-Masonic fraternal organizations, like the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

At its center, this drawing shows an arrangement of symbols used in Odd Fellows rituals.  Unfortunately, we do not know who the artist or original owner of the drawing was.  “Boquet Valley Lodge No. 681” is written along the top, so presumably the drawing was produced by or for a member of the lodge, or for the lodge itself.  Boquet Valley Lodge No. 681 met in Wadhams, New York, a hamlet, or unincorporated settlement, located along the Boquet River in the Adirondack Mountains, near Westport.  By the end of 1920, Boquet Valley Lodge counted 73 members, although other details about its history and activities are proving elusive.

Originally founded in England in 1745, the American branch of the Odd Fellows was organized in Baltimore in 1819 by Thomas Wildey (1782-1861).  The group took several cues from Freemasonry – they share a three-degree structure for initiation, although the specific rituals are different.  They also share some symbols, like the all-seeing eye, winged hourglass and the scales of justice on the drawing.  However, the three-link chain with the initials “FLT” (for Friendship, Love and Truth), also seen on the drawing, is a symbol unique to the Odd Fellows.

This drawing could have been framed and hung on the wall at the lodge or in a member’s home.  In a home, it would serve to identify the owner as a member, and in a home or a lodge, it would help members to learn and remember the lessons taught during ritual work.  To see examples of similar Masonic drawings, visit our current [December 2014] exhibition, “Every Variety of Painting for Lodges”: Decorated Furniture, Paintings and Ritual Objects from the Collection, which features over fifty paintings, aprons, furniture and other decorative and illustrated items, exploring the ways that Freemasons have expressed their involvement with the fraternity.  Visit our website for more information and leave us a comment below if you have seen similar drawings or know more about Boquet Lodge No. 681!

Independent Order of Odd Fellows Drawing, 1875-1900, Wadhams, New York, Special Acquisitions Fund, 82.3.1